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Very Hot Topic (More than 25 Replies) Unakite Hunt - Rose River near Syria, Virginia (Read 46699 times)
Tim4d
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Unakite Hunt - Rose River near Syria, Virginia
May 21st, 2012 at 3:04pm
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About 10 years ago my wife Rebecca and I drove out to the Rose River near Syria, Virginia, to hunt for unakite.  It was late winter or early spring, rainy and cold.  We didn’t hunt long due to the miserable weather.  We hauled home pretty rocks, but no true unakite.

Saturday May 19, 2012, I pointed the Mighty Club Wagon west and returned to the Rose River.  Rebecca missed out, because she stayed behind in Ohio after we witnessed our grandson’s graduation from Unioto High in Chillicothe.  (She may go to Flint Ridge, and if so I’ll miss that.)

Let’s get the geology out of the way first by quoting the Geologic Map of the Shenandoah National Park Region, Virginia, By Scott Southworth, John N. Aleinikoff, Christopher M. Bailey, William C. Burton, E.A. Crider, Paul C. Hackley, Joseph P. Smoot, and Richard P. Tollo; Open-File Report 2009–1153 U.S.  [My comments in brackets]

“Along the West Branch of Naked Creek in Weaver Hollow (Elkton East 7.5-minute quadrangle) [38.478824,-78.5183 west of Skyline Drive], Mesoproterozoic gneiss that is altered to unakite is overlain by a sequence of metabasalt, quartzite, and sediment derived from metabasalt.  Wherever the lavas of the Catoctin Formation flowed over the basement rocks and unconsolidated sands of the Swift Run Formation, the basement rocks were hydrothermally altered by contact metamorphism to form unakite (fig. 20C; Wadman and others, 1998; Tollo, Aleinikoff, Borduas, and Hackley, 2004). The granitoids were bleached to a light-gray color, plagioclase was replaced by green epidote-group minerals, and alkali feldspar was replaced by a pink, hematite-bearing assemblage. The effect of the metamorphism diminishes away from fractures and the contact with the overlying metabasalt. These features are well exposed along Skyline Drive, north of Stony Man.”

Now the nice pdf file at pubs.usgs.gov/of/2009/1153/pdf/ofr2009-1153-pamphlet.pdf has lots more to say about the region’s geology and has photos – but no geological map.  However by simply drawing a triangle from Weaver Hollow, to north of Stony Man, to Syria, you get an idea of an area worth exploring for potential unakite.
  
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Tim4d
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Re: Unakite Hunt - Rose River near Syria, Virginia
Reply #1 - May 21st, 2012 at 3:35pm
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About a two-hour drive from the DC area, Syria is on State Route 670 on the eastern flank of Hawksbill Mountain, between Skyline Drive to the west with Old Rag and Doubletop Mountains to the east.  At the national park boundary Route 670 is a gated fire road open to hiking and horseback riding.  It is also known as the Old Blue Ridge Turnpike, and you can see how today’s trail was a regular mountain road up and over the Blue Ridge in the pre-park days.  I parked the Mighty Club Wagon in a just-big-enough spot on the west side of the low water crossing (arrow).  On future trips I'll explore some of the many non-posted lanes between here and Syria.  The Rose River is a state-stocked and natural trout stream and is well known for unakite, so it's nothing unusual for people to be parking and accessing the river. 
  
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Re: Unakite Hunt - Rose River near Syria, Virginia
Reply #2 - May 21st, 2012 at 3:38pm
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Here's the road map
  
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Re: Unakite Hunt - Rose River near Syria, Virginia
Reply #3 - May 21st, 2012 at 3:51pm
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This leads to the west side of the river, which seemed to have more cobbles and pebbles than the other bank.  Note the trout fishing placards.
  
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Re: Unakite Hunt - Rose River near Syria, Virginia
Reply #4 - May 21st, 2012 at 3:55pm
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So immediately upon entering the woods, there are pickable rocks at my feet.  Appears to be the epidote with basalt fragments.  And yes, I'm using a cane now to keep my footing steady on uneven ground.  I could not have scrambled over river rocks half the day without it.
  
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Re: Unakite Hunt - Rose River near Syria, Virginia
Reply #5 - May 21st, 2012 at 4:08pm
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Right away there’s a tiny stream to cross, so I hunkered down and pushed the pebbles around.  Well looky who’s coming and a hoping that some dinner will get shaken loose.  Mudbugs are normally skittish, but this was the friendliest crawdad I ever did see.  He steadfastly made his way upstream toward me and past my boot, even when I moved around.  Given that camouflage paint job, I might never have seen him if he hadn’t started moving.
  
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Re: Unakite Hunt - Rose River near Syria, Virginia
Reply #6 - May 21st, 2012 at 4:12pm
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Here the river's fairly flat.
  
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Re: Unakite Hunt - Rose River near Syria, Virginia
Reply #7 - May 21st, 2012 at 4:14pm
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Metamorphic stress fractrues?
  
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Re: Unakite Hunt - Rose River near Syria, Virginia
Reply #8 - May 21st, 2012 at 4:18pm
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It's all you can haul away for the pistachio and dull red intermixed rocks.  They turn up in many varieties as soon as you hit the riverbank.
  
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Re: Unakite Hunt - Rose River near Syria, Virginia
Reply #9 - May 21st, 2012 at 4:24pm
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Hmm, what's this in the water?  Those duller colors can work out pretty interesting.  If I could have snapped my fingers and a rock saw appear, I would have trimmed off the ugly two-thirds.  Yup, I hauled it back to the truck anyway.
  
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Re: Unakite Hunt - Rose River near Syria, Virginia
Reply #10 - May 21st, 2012 at 4:28pm
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Still within sight of the low-water bridge, I spot my first unakite.  But it’s fairly rotten.  Rotten pieces started showing up a bit more while still close to the river access point.  Later on I “trade” it for a more solid specimen of about the same size.
  
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Re: Unakite Hunt - Rose River near Syria, Virginia
Reply #11 - May 21st, 2012 at 4:31pm
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All right, first pink and green!  By now I was well out of sight of the bridge or any other easy access point.
  
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Re: Unakite Hunt - Rose River near Syria, Virginia
Reply #12 - May 21st, 2012 at 4:36pm
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Here it is wetted down, resting on a almost all green/some pink slab found next to it.
  
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Re: Unakite Hunt - Rose River near Syria, Virginia
Reply #13 - May 21st, 2012 at 4:38pm
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The slab on its own.
  
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Re: Unakite Hunt - Rose River near Syria, Virginia
Reply #14 - May 21st, 2012 at 4:42pm
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Hello Blue!  This is the first vividly blue quartz I've ever found.  It's got what looks like white feldspar intermixed a bit.  That kept me searching until way past lunchtime, and I found two fairly solid chunks of unakite.  I tossed a few of the lesser picks before hauling my big sack of rocks back to the van.
  
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